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June 4, 2007

G56: Athletics 5, Red Sox 4 (11)

Eric Chavez's home run off Kyle Snyder with one out in the bottom of the 11th ended a wild one at 1:55 AM.

It's a little weird to feel so unperturbed by two straight losses, but both this game and Sunday's game against New York were addictive, nail-biting baseball, and perhaps living in these post-2004 times -- and holding a 10+ game lead, of course -- lets me handle a few losses.

Oakland's Mark Ellis hit for the cycle, needing a 10th-inning single to do it. The Red Sox have now lost their only two extra-inning games this season, both to Oakland and both by a score of 5-4 (May 1 was the other game).

David Ortiz and Wily Mo Pena both his solo home runs and Pena's RBI single in the 9th tied the game as Boston rallied to score twice. Pedroia extended his hitting streak to 14 games. ... Birthday boy JC Romero pitched out of a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the bottom of the ninth, getting Chavez swinging and Bobby Crosby on a 5-2-3 DP.

Elsewhere in the East, Baltimore and New York lost, Tampa won and the Jays were idle. So we lead Toronto by 10, Orioles by 11, and the Devil Rays and Yankees by 12.5.

Blame ESPN and MLB for that. I thought there was something in the collective bargaining against this type of travel but obviously I was wrong. The game yesterday should have been played at 12:00 or 1:00 so that the Sox were getting in at a reasonable time instead of around 8:00 a.m. this morning.

Some good hitting by the A's there and tough breaks for Julian. Well done to draw that walk by fouling off some good pitches; the single goes right where Cora had been (why did he go towards second?); then the hit.

the sox (and other east teams) would make 2 trips out west all year, play series against all 3 west teams and then fly back. now the schedule demands 2 game series and criss crossing all over the place.

Just got back from the game - towards the end there were probably more Sox fans than Oakland fans, at least in the lower seats where I was. Definitely an awesome game, except for the very end. Not bad for our B squad + 5th starter + bullpen "scrubs", I'd say.

And just so you know, Wily Mo's HR looked even more monstrous in person. Holy shit.